Children’s charity ambassador takes the plunge to raise funds

He’s pier-less when it comes to fundraising for Action Medical Research - and Phil Waters has vowed he won’t be out of his depth on his latest challenge.

The ambassador for the children’s charity plans to swim between the West Pier and the Palace Pier in Brighton this month to raise vital funds to save and change the lives of sick babies and children.

Phil, 63, from Frimley in Surrey, has managed to fit in practice swims around training for Action Medical Research’s London to Paris bike ride from 22-26 July, his tenth for the Horsham-based charity.

Just a few weeks after the 300-mile ride, Phil, who grew up in Southwick, will be tackling the pier-to-pier challenge at 11am on Sunday, 23 August.

"I wanted to do something new to celebrate my tenth anniversary of the ride, something that would offer a new challenge. Growing up in Brighton I always fancied swimming between the piers and now I've been making sure I tell everyone about it so I can't change my mind!" says Phil, who hopes to repeat the feat in Bournemouth next year.

Phil, a supporter of Action Medical Research for more than 13 years, gives talks around the region on its work and represents Action Medical Research at events.

"I always get a great response from people when I explain that everyone in the room has benefitted from work Action has been involved in: the polio vaccine," he adds.

Action Medical Research has been funding medical breakthroughs since it began in 1952, starting with the development of the first polio vaccines in the UK. Since then the charity has spent more than £100 million and has contributed to medical breakthroughs for children, some of which are now commonplace: the vaccine for rubella, the use of ultrasound scanning in pregnancy and taking folic acid before and during pregnancy to prevent spina bifida.

The charity is currently funding work around conditions including prematurity, stillbirth, epilepsy, meningitis, cerebral palsy, brain cancer and some rare and distressing conditions.

Action Medical Research is a leading UK-wide charity working to save and change children’s lives through medical research. We believe that the diseases that devastate the lives of so many of our children can be beaten. We have been funding medical breakthroughs since we began in 1952 like the first polio vaccines in the UK, ultrasound in pregnancy and the rubella vaccine – helping to save thousands of children’s lives and change many more.

Just one breakthrough, however small, can mean the world. Charity reg. nos 208701 and SC039284.